This article archived by VacLib.org August 2007 from pages originally archived at archive.org April 2007

THE
HOPEWOOD CHILDREN - AUSTRALIA'S HEALTHIEST KIDS

In 1942, Mr Leslie
Owen Bailey, a great philanthropist and founder of the Natural Health Society
of Australia, accepted guardianship of 85 children whose mothers were unable
to care for them. Raised in accordance with Natural Health principles, and
cared for in the Hopewood House at Bowral, NSW, they were to become well
known as the Hopewood children.

Many of these children
were young babies, and because breast feeding was not possible, they were
reared on goats milk. The older children were initially given unpasteurised
cows milk, but due to mucous problems in some children, fresh fruit and
vegetable juices were substituted. From age two onwards, the diet of these
children consisted of fresh fruit, root and green vegetables, salad, eggs,
nuts, rice, porridge, wholemeal bread and biscuits, dried fruits, unsalted
butter, lentils and soya beans etc. Between meals, only fruit or fruit
juices were allowed, and children were encouraged to drink plenty of water,
which, coming from the local water supply was pure and fluoride free.
Treats consisted of 'Hopewood lollies' made from carob, coconut, dried
fruits and honey.

The Child Welfare
Department, who were overseeing the children's health insisted that the
children be given 'meat', but when it was served to the children, they
refused to eat it. Nutritionists from the Sydney University analysed the
nutritional content of the Hopewood diet and the results showed adequate,
even superior levels of protein, carbohydrate, fat and minerals in the
food compared with orthodox diets. After the results of these tests were
made known, the Child Welfare Department no longer insisted that the children
be fed meat.

It is noteworthy
that amongst these 85 children, no serious illness ever occurred, no operative
treatments were ever performed, no drugs of any kind were ever taken or
used, and NO VACCINATIONS were ever given. The only malady that occurred
was when 34 of the children developed chicken pox. They were immediately
put to bed and given only pure water or fresh fruit juice. They all recovered
quickly without after-effects. Investigations revealed that these children
whilst at school, had been swapping their healthy lunches for unhealthy
conventional foods, so this outbreak was not altogether surprising.

In 1947, Dr N.E.
Goldsworthy, a medical doctor and head of the Institute of Dental Research
in Sydney, wanted to investigate the dental health of the Hopewood children.
Dr Goldsworthy and his team conducted an extensive survey of the children's
teeth over a ten year period. This survey showed that the Hopewood children
had 16 times less decay than other Sydney children the same age. Where
Sydney children had had on average 9.5 decayed, missing or filled teeth
per child, there was only 0.58 in the Hopewood children. To use Dr Goldsworthy's
own words, the results were "little short of miraculous".
The Hopewood children were credited with having the highest standard of
dental health ever studied, even surpassing New Guinea native children
who were supposed to have the best teeth in the world.

The Medical Profession
also took an interest in the Hopewood children with Sir Lorimer Dodds
and Dr D. Clements, Head of Child Nutrition at Sydney University, monitoring
their health for over 9 years. They examined both tonsils and adenoids
and said they had never seen a group so free of trouble as the Hopewood
children. Also, child psychologist, Zoe Benjamin, an expert of the day,
spent time with the Hopewood children and expressed amazement at their
independent personalities and contentment as a group.

Most remarkable of
all was the fact that many of these children inherited poor health due
to a history of illness and malnourishment in their mothers. Despite this,
and the fact that they were never breastfed nor could enjoy the normal
bonding of mother to child, they were able to grow into sturdy, self-reliant
children.

The Hopewood children
serve as an inspiring example for all those parents who would like to
raise their children naturally, and without drugs and vaccines. These
children are testimony to the truth and validity of Natural Health. The
full story of the Hopewood children appears in the Natural Health magazines,
Volume 5, No's 3, 4, 5 and 6 and Volume 6, No 1, published by the Natural
Health Society of Australia.